Firm pays out after telling Mirfield man to go

SUCCESS: Rob Weedy thanks former Dewsbury East councillor Dr Glyn Powell for taking on his case after he was made redundant.

Published:07:30Wednesday 28 November 2012

A WORKER made redundant with only a day’s notice has taken on his former employer and won compensation.

Bosses at parcel delivery company Interlink Express told administrator Rob Weedy that they were having to make him redundant.

The following day he said goodbye to the colleagues he had worked with for the past six years and handed in his keys.

But within no time Interlink had moved another lower paid member of staff into the office.

Mr Weedy said: “They called me into the office on the Thursday and told me I was being made redundant. It was completely out of the blue. There was no consultation.

“Immediately I knew it was wrong, but I didn’t know what to do. I was reeling from the fact I had been made redundant.”

Mr Weedy, 49, of Mirfield, was given the option of leaving the company the following day or at the end of the next week, but there was no discussion about moving into another role with the firm.

Mr Weedy said: “Because of employment law, you think they’re doing it in a fair and true manner, but that wasn’t the case.”

Interlink, which trades as Turner Logistics, moved from Mill Street West in Dewsbury to a site in the Roundwood Industrial Estate, Ossett, earlier this year.

“They told me that since they had moved to their new premises they had had to employ more loaders, but that was nothing to do with my job,” Mr Weedy said.

“There were only two of us in the office and the other person couldn’t do my work.

“When I finished they employed another guy on a lesser wage. He now covers my role on certain days of the week.”

Soon after losing his job, Mr Weedy was put in touch with former Dewsbury East councillor Glyn Powell.

Dr Powell, 63, has represented more than 4,000 people mistreated by their employers. “I was quite happy to take Rob’s case on,” he said. “I was certain I was going to chalk up another win. Given the number of people who work at Rob’s place of employment, the very minimum period of consultation should have been 42 days. He had no consultation.”

Dr Powell took the matter to mediation service ACAS which oversaw talks with Interlink.

He said: “The employers took a very hard line at first. They made an offer. It was next to nothing.”

Two more offers followed and an out-of-court settlement was eventually agreed. “Glyn was our saviour,” said Mr Weedy. “He has really fought our corner.”

Dr Powell, who does not charge any fees, said: “I get satisfaction from having a go at a system which is biased in favour of employers.

“I hope one day we will live in a world where employers treat their employees better than they do.”